Chapter 2 - Nyx's Story

Chapter 2 – Nyx’s Story

Nyx’s story was one of the best I had heard in a long time.  A little more than a year ago, before Twilight became a princess, a group of bad ponies kidnapped Twilight and took some blood from her to try and bring back a bad pony called Nightmare Moon.  They started the spell, but before it could be finished, Celestia came and stopped it, and saved Twilight.  While the spell was still stopped, there was a side-effect.  It created Nyx.  The next day, Twilight came to the same area where the spell was being cast because she had some bags that had some books in them.  She managed to find her bags, but she also found Nyx in a bush, hurt and scared.  At first Twilight thought Nyx was Nightmare Moon, but Nyx didn’t remember or know who Nightmare Moon was.  She didn’t even remember her name.  Twilight decided to take Nyx back with her to the library to determine if Nyx really was Nightmare Moon or not.  She was also the one who gave Nyx her name.  It was from a story from Twilight’s fillyhood.  A few days later, Twilight managed to sneak Nyx to a place called the Carousel Boutique.  She needed a favor from a friend of hers, a white unicorn named Rarity.  She needed her to make Nyx a disguise that would hide Nyx’s wings so she could be seen as a normal unicorn, which was a purple vest.  Nyx also wore a pair of enchanted glasses to make her eyes look like normal eyes so she wouldn’t be recognized as Nightmare Moon.  Rarity promised to keep Nyx’s identity a secret.  The next day, Twilight took Nyx to the local elementary school.  This was also so she could make Nyx look like a normal unicorn filly.  Nyx found class amazing, but she asked too many questions in class that it was bugging some of the other fillies and colts.  When she went out to recess, she was stopped by class bullies named Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.  They started picking on her by saying she had ticks on her because she had a black coat.

“They sound very mean,” I said, “I hope I don’t get picked on by them.”

“Trust me,” Nyx said, “If you do meet them, you will get picked on.  Just don’t let what they say go to your head.”

Anyway, help came to Nyx from an earth pony filly named Apple Bloom.  Apple Bloom said she was going to tell their teacher, an adult earth pony named Miss Cheerilee, that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were being mean if they didn’t stop.  Not wanting to get in trouble, they stopped and left.  Apple Bloom and Nyx soon became friends.  A few weeks later, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tricked Nyx into going into a scary place called the Everfree Forest.  Inside the forest, Nyx found an old castle that somehow looked familiar to her.  Her head started filling with memories of a bad pony wanting to make the night last forever and wanting to hurt Twilight.  She was upset because these memories felt real to her.  Twilight soon found Nyx in the castle and began saying sorry for the things the bad pony in the memories did.  The next day at school, Nyx was still feeling bad for thinking that she wanted to hurt Twilight, but Apple Bloom and another friend she made at school named Twist came and cheered her up.  Sometime later, Nyx became a member a club Apple Bloom and a couple of her friends made called the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

A few days later, the school was putting together a play for a Spring Festival.  It was about the time Princess Luna was saved by the Elements of Harmony when she was Nightmare Moon.  Twilight noticed that Nyx was the one who was going to play Nightmare Moon and got worried.  The costume Nyx wore for the play made her look a lot like Nightmare Moon.  It only got worse when Twilight learned that Celestia and Luna were going to be watching the play too.  Twilight didn’t want the princesses to recognize Nyx, so she told Nyx that she couldn’t be in the play.  On the night of the play, Nyx managed to get Twilight’s pet owl, Owloysius, to let her go to the play, but while putting on her costume, the fake wings they made broke, so Nyx had to use her real wings.  She was in such a hurry to get there, that she forgot to put her glasses back on, and went to the play without them.  While doing her parts, the princesses didn’t come down and take Nyx away like Twilight thought they would, even when Nyx did her lines and actions in the play almost the same way Nightmare Moon did.  At the end of the play, when Nyx came out to take a bow, the crowd went wild for Nyx’s amazing performance.

Back at the Library that night, Nyx asked Twilight about Nightmare Moon and the memory of her wanting to hurt Twilight.  Twilight then told her about the night she was kidnapped.  Nyx started crying when she realized that she must’ve been Nightmare Moon, but Twilight told Nyx she wasn’t because Nightmare Moon wouldn’t have friends the way Nyx does.  Nyx started crying again, because she realized that if she was made from a spell, that meant she didn’t have a real family, but Twilight told her that being related to somepony isn’t what makes a family.  Twilight also told her that Spike was like her older brother.  When Nyx asked Twilight what she was to her, Twilight said that she was like Nyx’s mommy.  Nyx went to bed a happy filly that night, because she had the best mom she could ask for.

A few days later, there was a Learn and Play Day at school.  It was when the students would set up displays on certain subjects.  Nyx’s display was on transfiguration magic.  Magic that would turn one thing into something else.  She showed a couple ponies, more of Twilight’s friends named Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, an example of that magic by turning a rock into a flower.  When she asked if they wanted to see something else, Pinkie Pie asked if she could turn Fluttershy into a tree.  Nyx was worried at first, but agreed.  And she did it.  A lot of ponies nearby saw a yellow tree with pink leaves where Nyx’s booth was.  Twilight managed to turn Fluttershy back into a pony and ran off to hide with Nyx to think about a few things.

Later there were some games.  Nyx joined Apple Bloom and a couple more of their friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, for a tug-of-war tournament.  At the final round of their age group, the four friends managed to beat Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, much to the bullies’ disappointment.  Later the four friends managed to beat a group of middle age ponies with a little bit of trouble.  But now they were up against four big colts that were close to being adults.  A pegasus named Rainbow Dash, who was another of Twilight’s friends, allowed Nyx and her friends to do something that would make the match more even.  The friends decided to have Nyx use magic.  When the match started, the four colts managed to get Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo to fall into a mud puddle which was used as the center of the match.  Nyx was almost ready to give up, but her friends cheered her on and told her not to give up.  Nyx got to pour more magic into her horn and stopped herself from falling into the mud too.  She then started pulling the four colts back.  Then she heard four splashes and saw that she had pulled all four of the colts into the mud by herself.  The crowd was shocked at Nyx’s win.  Nyx was worried that she did something wrong, but her friends pulled themselves out of the mud and congratulated Nyx on her win.  Hearing the fillies cheer for her, some of the crowd started to join in.

One night, Nyx was invited to a sleepover at Apple Bloom’s house.  Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were there too.  There, Nyx showed her friends her wings.  They were surprised, Nyx was afraid that they would be jealous of her for having both wings and a horn.  But they weren’t jealous at all.  Nyx was happy that she shared a secret with her best friends.

“But then things got bad,” Nyx said sadly.

“Why?” I asked, “What happened?”

“You remember the beginning of the story?” Nyx asked me.

“The bad ponies that kidnapped Twilight?” I asked back.

“Yes.  Their leader tricked Celestia into taking me away from Twilight,” Nyx said.

“I’m still very sorry that happened Nyx,” Celestia said.

“I’ve already forgiven you for that, Princess,” Nyx replied.

The bad pony leader, who was called Spell Nexus, managed to take Nyx away from Celestia and finish the spell they started a few months ago.  And Nyx became Nightmare Moon.  She locked up Twilight in a dungeon when Twilight came to say sorry for deceiving Nyx, but Nyx didn’t accept the apology.  She thought Twilight was lying to her.  Later she defeated Celestia and Luna, banished them to the sun and moon, took away the Elements of Harmony from Twilight’s friends, started making the night last forever, and became the Queen of Equestria

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were worried about Nyx and decided to sneak into her castle to try and help her.  They managed to find her without being seen by the guards.  They even brought her a new Cutie Mark Crusader cape.  While they were talking with Nyx, Spell Nexus came in and tried to convince Nyx to hang them.  Nyx didn’t want to do that to her friends, so she instead chose to lock them into the dungeon with Twilight.  She wasn’t too happy having to lock her friends up.  Over the next few weeks Nyx was starting to feel sad and confused.  She wasn’t happy being the Queen, because her subjects weren’t happy.  She did something that no one thought she would do.  She made the sun come back.  Everypony in Ponyville thought it meant that Nyx was defeated and that Celestia and Luna were back.  Nyx was sadder than ever.  She left her castle to be by herself and think things over.

Under the shade of a tree, Nyx tried to remember what made her happy in the past before she became Nightmare Moon.  It was ponies, her friends.  She started crying for being so foolish in believing what Spell Nexus was telling her what she should do.  Then, a filly came up to her.  That filly was Twist.  At first Twist didn’t recognize Nyx, but soon Nyx told her what happened.  But she didn’t tell Twist about locking up the Crusaders.  Twist said that she was happy that she got her cutie mark, but she missed being able to play with Apple Bloom, because she was always playing with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo since the three of them met.  Nyx had an idea and asked Twist to wait under the tree for a minute.  Nyx hurried back to the castle and got the cape that Sweetie Belle brought.  She went back to where Twist was and gave her the cape.  She made Twist a Cutie Mark Crusader so that she could play with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo more often.  Even though Twist had her cutie mark already, Nyx said that a pony with a cutie mark would be able to help one who didn’t have one.  Before Twist left, she gave Nyx a special treat, a peppermint stick.

A few days later, it was Twist’s birthday.  Twist wanted Nyx to attend, but Nyx had something better in mind.  She let Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo go instead.  The four friends were happy to be together.  It seemed like everypony was happy Nyx released her friends.  Well, almost everypony.  Spell Nexus came up with a plan to make Nyx rule Equestria the way he thought Nightmare Moon should.  He brainwashed Twilight into one of the bad ponies and made her hurt Nyx.  Nyx thought Twilight had abandoned her again.  Looking out the window of the castle that night, she saw that Twilight was about to be hanged.  Nyx managed to save Twilight and free her from the brainwashing spell.  While freeing Twilight from the magic that was brainwashing her, she felt familiar magic.

She asked Spell Nexus to come to her throne room, because she wanted to look at something inside him.  She put Spell Nexus under a sleeping spell and checked inside his body to see that he was filled with brainwashing magic too.  Magic that was Nightmare Moon’s jealousy.  Nyx worked hard to free Spell Nexus from the magic, and she did by destroying it.  It wasn’t easy for her, because it was a part of her, but it was what made her bad in the past, and she wouldn’t that magic hurt any more ponies.  She managed to turn all the bad ponies that kidnapped Twilight good again, and she gave up being the Queen of Equestria, but she didn’t let Celestia and Luna go yet, because she thought they would send her to the moon in their place.

“But then things started going bad again,” Nyx said.

“Why?  What happened?” I asked.

“Monsters started attacking Ponyville,” Nyx replied, “Hydras, Cerberi, Lupus Minors, and Scorpios.”

“Oh no,” I said starting to get scared.

“Don’t worry, I managed to buy everypony time to escape by splitting up into clones of myself,” Nyx explained, “While I fought off against the monsters, Twilight and her friends saw to it that everypony got to my castle safely.  There were a few ponies that got hurt, but no lives were lost that day.”

“That’s good,” I said feeling less scared.

“But I was putting myself at risk for everypony else,” Nyx added, “By splitting myself up, I wasn’t as strong as I was as one pony.  After sending all the monsters back to the Everfree Forest, I pulled myself back together, but all the injuries my clones received made my whole self very hurt.  Then Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy saw one big monster still left, a Lupus Major.  Twilight was about to fight it herself, but I sent her, Rainbow, and Fluttershy to the castle so I could fight it myself.”

“Why would you do that if you were hurt badly?” I asked.

“I didn’t want Twilight to risk her life for me,” Nyx replied, “At any rate, I managed to defeat the Lupus Major, but I got hurt more fighting it.  I was so injured, I passed out inside the castle courtyard.  When I woke up, Twilight was there.  I looked over my body and saw I was in bandages and my wing in a cast.  Twilight said she was proud of me for saving Ponyville, but I thought Twilight and the rest of Ponyville should’ve just hated me for what I did as Equestria’s Queen.  She didn’t though, because she said a mother will always love her daughter, no matter what.  She then showed me pictures that my classmates and several other fillies and colts drew for me.  They were all saying thanks for protecting them and their families from the monsters.  Even Miss Cheerilee wrote me a letter thanking me for saving her.

“Later, with some persuasion and help from Twilight, we freed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna from the sun and moon.  I was willing to accept banishment to the moon, so I surrendered myself to the princesses.  I’ll never forget the words I said that day, ‘I can be bruised, battered and beaten but, as long as there is still breath in my lungs, I will continue to protect ponies. I will protect them because what can kill them, I can survive. Because what hurts them is but a scratch for me… because it’s the one thing I’ve been able to do right.’  None of us noticed it at first, but when I finished saying those words, this appeared,” she said showing me her cutie mark.

“My willingness to protect ponies and to make up for what those bad ponies had done under the influence of my magic, that was the moment I found my special talent.  Before my judgment was given, Luna went out into Ponyville to ask the citizens what they would do to see me punished.  There were those like Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack, who were willing to forgive me for what I did.  Applejack is Apple Bloom’s older sister.  While others like Rainbow Dash and Rarity who thought I should be punished but not sent to the moon.  Still, there were other ponies who were in no way swayed by what I did to save Ponyville.

“Later, Princess Luna decided what she was going to do.  She turned me back into a filly, took back the magic and the memories that were originally hers, and put me in the care of the best mother I could ever ask for, Twilight Sparkle.  A few days later, there was a Thanks-for-Saving-Ponyville-from-a-Bunch-of-Scary-Monsters Party thrown by Pinkie Pie at Sugar Cube Corner, a bakery not too far from here.  There I saw my friends again, and they were just as happy as I was to see me back to normal.  Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all forgave me for throwing them in the dungeons, saying that they were still my friends no matter what happened.  However at the party Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon showed up, because Twilight asked them to.  She told me that I needed to apologize to them, because I practically blamed them for me turning into Nightmare Moon.  I did apologize to them, but they didn’t accept it.”

“That was mean of them,” I said.

“It’s their business if they want to be snooty and mean,” Nyx said, “But I still had to apologize to everypony that I hurt, even those two, whether they wanted to accept it or not.  So what did you think of my story, Joshua?”

“That was a very nice story, Nyx,” I replied, “I liked the part where you saved Ponyville from the monsters.”

“Thanks,” Nyx said.  She then looked at a clock on the wall.  “I wonder where Twilight is.  She’s been gone for a while.”

The door then opened, and a voice called out, “Spike, Nyx, I’m back!”  We all turned our heads toward the door and I saw a purple alicorn with a darker purple mane and tail that had pink and light purple stripes on it.  On her flank was a pink six pointed star with smaller white ones around it.  I guessed this was Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh!  Princess Celestia!” Twilight exclaimed seeing Celestia in the room, “What are you doing here?”

“I have something I need you to do for me, Twilight,” Celestia answered.  She then lifted her wing off of me and showed me to Twilight.